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Veterans Health Administration clinicians treating veterans with PTSD often prescribed medications not included in evidence-based guidelines, a trend that was more pronounced among mental health versus primary care clinicians, according to a study in the journal Psychiatric Services. Dr. Jeffrey Sonis of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a family physician, said he was concerned about the methodology because the study looked at the proportion of prescriptions, not the prescribing frequency.

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Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorders given mechanical ventilation in an ICU may need sedatives for a longer duration than those who do not have PTSD, according to research from the Veterans Health Administration's Western New York Healthcare System. The study in the journal Chest showed patients with PTSD needed longer sedation when benzodiazepines and opiates were used and a higher mean dose when given propofol. Researchers said there also was a trend toward higher mortality rates for ICU patients with PTSD.

A Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Boston is home to the nation's first repository of donated brains to be used in a study of post-traumatic stress disorder. Researchers aim to understand the condition at a cellular level, which could lead to more effective treatments. "We've been diagnosing PTSD based on clinical symptoms, but we have not systematically characterized the pathology underlying this disorder," said neuropathologist Ann McKee, who's in charge of the brain bank.

Civilian health care providers and veterans need more education about dealing with PTSD and the effects of traumatic brain injury, according to a report by a state commission created by the New Hampshire Legislature to study the issue. The commission recommended that the Legislature create a permanent panel that would work to reduce the stigma associated with PTSD, train civilian health care providers to treat veterans and coordinate care between civilian providers and the Department of Veterans Affairs. New Hampshire does not have an active-duty military base or a full-service VA health facility, yet it has the fifth-highest per capita veteran population in the U.S.

Veterans Health Administration clinicians treating veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder often prescribed medications not included in evidence-based guidelines, a trend that was more pronounced among mental health versus primary care clinicians, according to a study in the journal Psychiatric Services. Family physician Jeffrey Sonis of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said he was concerned about the methodology because the study looked at the proportion of prescriptions, not the prescribing frequency.

Researchers looked at the records of 356,958 veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and found that majority of them were given psychiatric drugs not supported by guidelines developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Data showed that 65.7% of veterans were given selective serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, while 37% and 25.6% were prescribed benzodiazepines and second-generation antipsychotic medications, respectively. The study appeared in the journal Psychiatric Services.